Findwell takes on Redfin in real estate

Findwell is a new Seattle online real estate brokerage that is taking direct aim at Redfin, launching a service today that offers home buyers a 50 percent rebate on the buyer agent’s commission.

Redfin, on the other hand, typically refunds two-thirds of the buyer agent’s commission to consumers.

So, given that home buyers could save more money through Redfin, why would someone choose Findwell?

Co-founder Kevin Lisota explains that the company is offering additional services, such as unlimited home tours to potential buyers as well as staging, open house set up and marketing for home sellers. Home buyers that utilize Findwell also are assigned one agent during the home buying process, with Lisota saying that they “make sure that the experienced agents are with you every step of the process.”

To date, Findwell has handled 14 transactions in the Seattle area with $6.6 million in closed sales during the first quarter of operations.

While Redfin has attracted plenty of attention for its online real estate service, Lisota says the company still only accounts for a fraction of the transactions in the Seattle area. And that spells opportunity.

“Based on the customer research we did during our planning phase, we think that they haven’t hit the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of customer service,” said Lisota, referring to Redfin. “We are trying to hit that ‘sweet spot’ with full service at half of the normal commissions. I believe that the first company to hit that spot will be the first real threat to the big brokerages.”

Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, had not heard of Findwell. But he pointed out that Redfin’s customer satisfaction rates for Seattle buyers stands at 97 percent, which compares to a national average of 85 percent for traditional agents.

Kelman also noted that Redfin already offers a similar rebate and service model to Findwell through its Redfin Select program.

In that, Redfin buyers receive additional services — including unlimited home tours. As a result, buyers receive a 50 percent rebate. (That compares to the 67 percent rebate they get through Redfin Direct.)

Still, Kelman noted that Redfin must do more to experiment with different service and pricing models in order to gain market share. And he said there’s a lot of work to do.

“We still have a long ways to go putting the whole home-buying and selling process online; this is why Redfin had to raise $12 million from DFJ, and why we still have to work so hard every night. But there’s no way we’d spend all that money and effort just to be as good as traditional brokers offering ‘full service.’ There’s something better than ‘full service’ out there.”